Five out of six

The GP14 Purcell Trophy was convinclingly won by Tim Corcoran and Brendan Brogan

Tim Corcoran and Brendan Brogan made the GP14 Purcell Trophy their own winning an impressive five out of six races. The 24 competing crews from all over Ireland had no answer to the Sligo Yacht Club duo’s relentless consistency.

Lough Erne lived up to its notorious reputation as a challenging venue, with the shifty easterly breeze wind ranging between five and ten knots throughout the series. Race Officer Fred Ternan set a combination of Olympic triangle and windward / leeward courses to keep the competitors on their toes.

Corcoran and Brogan apart the racing was extremely close with second to fourth only separated by four points and the podium places in each of the gold, silver and bronze fleets been only being decided in the last race. The tricky conditions meant nearly everybody had “a clanger” they needed to discard.

A fourth place in the last race was enough for Alastair Duffin and Stephen Nelson from Newtownards Sailing Club to hold on to second overall despite clubmates Curly Morris and Laura McFarland winning the last race. Chris Scott and Mark Taylor slipped to fourth after incurring a penalty in the final stages of the race but still had the satisfaction of being first local boat.

Richard Street and Dan Crilly from Blessington Sailing Club sailed a very consistent series of top ten finishes to shade the Silver Fleet from Nigel Sloan and Mark Valentine from Newtownards Sailing Club.

Local sailors Raymond Morrison and Declan Dooley even surprised themselves by leading the final race of the series before being pipped to third place but this performance was enough to secure the Bronze fleet event, maybe tempting Raymond back to the fleet – watch this space.

In his closing remarks Niall Henry President GP14 Irleand Association stated “Lough Erne Yacht Club had as usual ran an excellent regatta with race management and catering second to none.” 48 sailors from ten different clubs show the strength and depth of the GP14 fleet in Ireland. The next event on the Irish GP14 circuit is the innovative and high tension O'Tiarnaigh Challenge held a Swords Sailing Club on 7-8 June.

Results:

Pos	Helm	Crew	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Net
1	tim corcoran	brendan brogan	1	1	1	1	1	2	5
2	alastair duffin	s. nelson	12	5	3	7	3	4	22
3	curly morris	laura mc farland	9	11	4	2	7	1	23
4	chris scott	mark taylor	3	16	9	3	2	9	26
5	dairmuid mullen	james conlon	5	10	2	9	5	5	26